Saturday, July 23, 2016

The Terrorism Epidemiology

"The question of terrorism or a rampage is tied to motive, and we don't know the motive. We can't question the suspect so this is all a little more difficult."
Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae

"All that we know and can say right now is that it was a cruel and inhumane attack. We can't rule out that there are terrorist links. We can't confirm them, but we are investigating along those lines, too."
"You can only have absolute security in an absolute surveillance state, and nobody wants that, it would be the opposite of our free western European way of life."
"But, and this became clear again today, we can't talk down this danger. It's a danger that many countries are exposed [to], especially in the West, and that's why it's important to give our security agencies the instruments they need."
Peter Altmaier, chief of staff, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
A young man who harbours hatred, an especial hatred for others like him, unlike him. He shot and killed nine people and wounded over twenty. He aimed high in the sense that the higher the number of those he killed, the greater the personal satisfaction, since what he set out to do was to achieve a high count of dead. He had taken to social media to invite others to come out to a local McDonald's, where they could eat, he said, for free.

An irresistible invitation to whom? To the young, that's who. And among those who are dead are the young, including himself. Details are yet to be discovered that will sketch a fuller picture of yet another young Muslim man who availed himself of firearms for a distinct and deliberate purpose; to wreak havoc and through his carefully planned assault, kill people. What he had in common with those he killed was that he lived in Munich, he was young.

What was different about him was that he was born in Iran, and was Muslim; he hated and he had a gun in a country where firearm possession is restricted, so he had no permit, and had illegal possession of what he used to kill others. That, despite an increased alert and the presence of greater numbers of counterterrorism forces than might otherwise be deployed because Germany had already suffered an earlier attack by a 17-year-old Afghan also in possession of a gun.

Eight days, three attacks in Western Europe. Nice was first and suffered greatly, followed by Bavaria, now Munich. German authorities previouslya dmitted that among the million refugees they had invited into Germany there would surely be some among them who were terrorists. The two who were responsible for the most recent attacks were not the terrorists to whom authorities alluded. But they were Muslim and susceptible to the messages of terrorists whose use of the Koran in jihad is infectuous because it reflects what the Koran does demand of its faithful.

Even in a country like Canada that prides itself on its multiculturalism
policy and of complete integration of Muslims into the greater Canadian
society, Muslims live cloistered lives among themselves, which is
common for many ethnic or religious groups. But in Canada also Muslim
youth are over-represented well above their population numbers in
illegal activities, in gang membership, in drug and illegal firearms
dealing, in violence and in murder.

So hedging bets by reminding the public that the very day of the latest attack coincided with the anniversary of the Oslo massacre by far right extremist Anders Breivik who succeeded in killing 77 people, accusing their politics of transforming Norway into yet another Muslim enclave in Europe is moot. And even though it is questionable in hoping to turn opinion away from fanatical jihad, it is still rooted in Islam's reach into Europe through jihad.

If symbolism is so telling, then the fact that the attack took place in the general vicinity where members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September took Israeli Olympic athletes hostage then butchered them as a symbol of Palestinian 'resistance' against the presence of Jews in land the Arabs reserve for themselves, tells a story of an uncaring world that represents the 'rights' of the Palestinians as defensive, but the rights of the State of Israel to defend itself as offensive.

A Black September terrorist looks from the balcony of an apartment where
Israeli Olympic team members are held hostage, Munich, September 1972.

This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.